The Mojang Website has word that the phenomenal success of Minecraft continues, revealing the indie construction game has now sold more than eight million copies on the PC. To put this in perspective, they note that according to the Wikipedia, this makes it the ninth bestselling PC game of all time, ahead of such luminaries as StarCraft II, Myst, and Diablo II. In response to this, Notch has provided a message, which is either encoded, or really badly mistyped: "69I960EHE0A4A0IVG0EHE02500R4R0G1T30PLJ00V6V0EHE0V1U01V10U5U0VGV0V4R."

Verno wrote on Nov 13, 2012, 09:33:When Minecraft was a little alpha one man creation this was all fine but when you're selling 8mil copies and still make newcomers look up everything in a wiki then you're just fucking lazy.

I would say this is one gripe I do agree with about Minecraft. Terraria handled this well, you could give any item to the "Guide" and he would tell you all the recipes which used that item. Minecraft needs something like that so the next time I forget the exact way to make an anvil, an enchanting table, a whatever, I don't have to go look it up in the wiki.

Perhaps a place in the crafting window, put an item there, see a list of items crafted using that item.

That's why I consider the Not Enough Items (NEI) mod to be one of my two must-haves. (Redpower 2 is the other one). Not only does it allow you to view recipes and even overlay them on a crafting table, but it shows you everything you can make, which, if you have lots of mods like I do, is invaluable. Without those two mods at minimum, I won't even play Minecraft.

You can also use it as another way to /give items by playing with Cheat Mode enabled, but I only use that for server testing.

Verno wrote on Nov 13, 2012, 09:33:When Minecraft was a little alpha one man creation this was all fine but when you're selling 8mil copies and still make newcomers look up everything in a wiki then you're just fucking lazy.

I would say this is one gripe I do agree with about Minecraft. Terraria handled this well, you could give any item to the "Guide" and he would tell you all the recipes which used that item. Minecraft needs something like that so the next time I forget the exact way to make an anvil, an enchanting table, a whatever, I don't have to go look it up in the wiki.

Perhaps a place in the crafting window, put an item there, see a list of items crafted using that item.

jacobvandy wrote on Nov 12, 2012, 22:09:I think it's pretty much a given that, with an audience of millions, there are many, many more individuals creating content as mods for a game than the handful of official developers... Especially when they're also tasked with fixing bugs and implementing other features that the fans have asked for, such as better mod tools. If all they did was spend their time creating new "content" like arrows made out of every single material in the game or 7 more types of stairs/fences/doors, then people would complain that there were no major new features or other support.

I agree that Mojang has not done enough to support Minecraft based on how much money it brings in, but you have to keep in mind they are still a very small indie studio trying to manage a project that has exploded to AAA+ popularity, while still wanting to move on to making other games. The mods are out there, so rather than try to compete with them, they're focusing on doing things that modders can't...

The thing with Minecraft is that Mojang is terrible about finishing what they start and it all began with Notch and still trickles down. They will talk about a feature, introduce it 3-5 months later in a half assed manner and never truly finish it. The game has the most absurd collection of rudimentary elements, it's amazing that more people don't lampoon them for the terrible design.

I like Minecraft in its ability to just be an extension of my creative mind, letting make a cool building without needing a background in CAD or whatever. That said it is still a terrible game in most respects. The modding community is a poor crutch too, it's often a jumbled mess of egos and idiocy.

When Minecraft was a little alpha one man creation this was all fine but when you're selling 8mil copies and still make newcomers look up everything in a wiki then you're just fucking lazy.

Are there lots of games which people are making a living off of by posting "Let's Play" videos on YouTube? Because that's the thing that amazes me about Minecraft, there are at least a dozen (many more?) people doing that. Which rattles my brain every time I think about it. And hell, I'm someone who actually watches some of those "Let's Play" videos!

jacobvandy wrote on Nov 12, 2012, 22:09:I think it's pretty much a given that, with an audience of millions, there are many, many more individuals creating content as mods for a game than the handful of official developers... Especially when they're also tasked with fixing bugs and implementing other features that the fans have asked for, such as better mod tools. If all they did was spend their time creating new "content" like arrows made out of every single material in the game or 7 more types of stairs/fences/doors, then people would complain that there were no major new features or other support.

I agree that Mojang has not done enough to support Minecraft based on how much money it brings in, but you have to keep in mind they are still a very small indie studio trying to manage a project that has exploded to AAA+ popularity, while still wanting to move on to making other games. The mods are out there, so rather than try to compete with them, they're focusing on doing things that modders can't...

Why do we have to keep in mind that they're an indie studio, exactly? They publish the numbers touting their success, but they can't spend a few hundred thousand annually to give back to the gamers who gave so much to them.

Instead, the gamers have to pickup the slack to make the game half decent while getting paid nothing at all.

I think it's pretty much a given that, with an audience of millions, there are many, many more individuals creating content as mods for a game than the handful of official developers... Especially when they're also tasked with fixing bugs and implementing other features that the fans have asked for, such as better mod tools. If all they did was spend their time creating new "content" like arrows made out of every single material in the game or 7 more types of stairs/fences/doors, then people would complain that there were no major new features or other support.

I agree that Mojang has not done enough to support Minecraft based on how much money it brings in, but you have to keep in mind they are still a very small indie studio trying to manage a project that has exploded to AAA+ popularity, while still wanting to move on to making other games. The mods are out there, so rather than try to compete with them, they're focusing on doing things that modders can't...

NKD wrote on Nov 12, 2012, 20:39:Scumbag PC Gamers: Whine when there are no mods that the community could do more than the developers. Also whines when there are mods that the community is doing more than the developers.

Maybe if you don't use your brain and lack basic reasoning skills then you could conclude that is what he meant.

webname wrote on Nov 12, 2012, 14:52:The game is a fucking resource hog, its astounding really for what it is, drives the fans on the vid cardinto overdrive, but then its running optifine as well dont know if its the cause. but even the server is a resource pig and it runs on linux to ,me happy :)

It doesn't cause my video card's fans to speed up. It does cause the CPU fan to speed up from silent to a slight whisper. I'm also running optifine, using AA and AF and boosting the view distance.

ItBurn wrote on Nov 12, 2012, 18:50:I love Minecraft. From time to time when there's a big upgrade, I do a lan party with my brother, his gf and my gf. We build something epic, explore and work together to survive and make our life better. Everyone does what they feel like and you really get a feeling of achievement.

Mojang is TERRIBLE at supporting the game. There are mods out there that literally have hundreds of new things, and they're all balanced and solid. It's inexcusable really.

Scumbag PC Gamers: Whine when there are no mods that the community could do more than the developers. Also whines when there are mods that the community is doing more than the developers.

Cutter wrote on Nov 12, 2012, 14:36:How many people bought it and checked it out for a week and never touched it again?

Probably a smaller percentage than people who buy a triple A game, beat it once, and never touch it again. Or people who buy a game on a Steam sale for the same price as Minecraft, and then 5 years later still haven't played it even once.

I love Minecraft. From time to time when there's a big upgrade, I do a lan party with my brother, his gf and my gf. We build something epic, explore and work together to survive and make our life better. Everyone does what they feel like and you really get a feeling of achievement.

Mojang is TERRIBLE at supporting the game. There are mods out there that literally have hundreds of new things, and they're all balanced and solid. It's inexcusable really.

Cutter wrote on Nov 12, 2012, 14:36:Given its price point how many people bought it simply because other people had it? What's the average continual play time of this game? How many people bought it and checked it out for a week and never touched it again?

Do you really think the vast majority of games aren't played for a week and never touched again?

jacobvandy wrote on Nov 12, 2012, 17:14:At one point there was hope that Gaslamp Games (Dungeons of Dredmor) would take up support for Terraria, but I guess that didn't pan out... And the only work being done on it lately is porting to consoles.

However the one-half of the Re-Logic crew who's still active (major reason they stopped working on Terraria is the other just had a baby) is working on a new game that is basically the same thing, but with you flying on a spaceship around to different planets. It's called Starbound: http://playstarbound.com/

Yeah, I've been following it. Looks decent, but I'm not sure if it'll capture the "spirit" of the original. I hope so.

I wish people weren't so stingy about releasing source code. I mean, I know he's still selling the game and everything, but still, id's been doing it for awhile and it hasn't seemed to hurt them. There's lots that could be done with Terraria if we had the code to work with.

Bhruic wrote on Nov 12, 2012, 16:12:The best thing Minecraft has going for it is that it's still being worked on. I got my money's worth from Terraria, but I was extremely disappointed that when the author decided he didn't want to work on it anymore, he just killed it, rather than letting someone else take up the reins. There was a lot of potential for expansion/improvement in the game, and we aren't likely to get it at this point. At least, until another, similar game comes along.

At one point there was hope that Gaslamp Games (Dungeons of Dredmor) would take up support for Terraria, but I guess that didn't pan out... And the only work being done on it lately is porting to consoles.

However the one-half of the Re-Logic crew who's still active (major reason they stopped working on Terraria is the other just had a baby) is working on a new game that is basically the same thing, but with you flying on a spaceship around to different planets. It's called Starbound: http://playstarbound.com/

The best thing Minecraft has going for it is that it's still being worked on. I got my money's worth from Terraria, but I was extremely disappointed that when the author decided he didn't want to work on it anymore, he just killed it, rather than letting someone else take up the reins. There was a lot of potential for expansion/improvement in the game, and we aren't likely to get it at this point. At least, until another, similar game comes along.

MoreLuckThanSkill wrote on Nov 12, 2012, 10:18:Ye poor souls; that's at least 8 million sets of eyes subjected to the horror that is Minecraft's 'artwork.'

Still, very impressive, even if I found Terraria to be more entertaining than Minecraft.

Sphax BDCraft texture pack. I don't play with default textures.

I put about 60 hours into Terraria, which is pretty impressive for a game I paid less than $3 for. I've put hundreds into Minecraft. I agree that Terraria is more game-like. I only built what I needed to build. I didn't feel much urge to make things simply for the sake of making them. Modded Minecraft can be more game-like. (There's even a Terraria mod for it).

Hrm, that texture pack looks... dangerous. I could easily stand to look at that and start playing Minecraft for real. Now the question is, should I risk possibly adding that level of addiction to my existence?